Wild animal makes mess of Vt. convenience store

(NECN: Jack Thurston, Barre, Vt.) - Scott Gagnon, the elected constable of Barre, Vt., said he will never forget what happened inside a Cumberland Farms store in Barre late Tuesday morning.

"All hell broke loose," Gagnon remembered. "I thought a car had hit the building!"

It was actually a deer. Gagnon said the young buck crashed through the store's glass door, leaving what police called thousands of dollars in damage.

"It wasn't able to get any footing under it, on the tile floor with their hooves," Gagnon explained. "And the fact they just waxed the floor the night before, he was just sliding all over the place."

The store was forced to briefly close as it cleaned up the mess and made repairs, the Barre City Police Dept. said. Gagnon happened to be inside grabbing a snack when the strange brush with nature went down. He took photos after helping the startled customers and employees. The equally frightened animal left the store after about 10-15 minutes, police said.

New England Cable News asked Cumberland Farms for surveillance video of the deer in the store. But the company declined to provide it to NECN, saying it's against corporate policy to release this type of material to the press.

Inside the Barre property Wednesday morning, an NECN employee saw that the store was completely cleaned up and business appeared back to normal.

Asked in jest what criminal charges the deer would face, Constable Gagnon chuckled, answering, "Definitely disorderly conduct. He was not being cooperative at first. But obviously, realistically, we can't do anything about it. 'Act of nature' is what it'd be."

Witnesses said the deer had minor cuts, but appeared fine running out of the store: probably in search of some woods far away from the city.

"I'd be awful surprised if I ever saw [a case like this] again," Gagnon said. "It's a rarity."